The Unit Test (2021)

Interactive sculpture

Acrylic, LEDs, Arduino, fabric, plastic buttons, wire

Class: Gadgets, Sensors, and Activity Recognition, Fall 2021

(Better documentation coming soon.)

For the final project of this physical computing class, I made an arcade-esque computer science learning game that also represents my exploration with gender. The goal is to introduce the player to binary and logical operations. The object is a black acrylic box with the word “it” embossed on the front; a row of 8 LEDs, two of which are flashing green; a piece of black fabric curtaining an open window in the box; and two red buttons hanging down on wire, the left of which has the number 0 written on it, and the right 1. Next to the box is an instruction sheet, which has a table outlining text to binary conversions and the function of various logical operators. At the bottom of the sheet, it reads: “PASSCODE: ¬(me)”.

Upon first interaction, the player presses a button and notices the LEDs flash either green or red, indicating that they have succeeded or failed. A few more tries and the player discovers that they must press the buttons in some correct order to advance, as the line of green LEDs grows like a progress bar as they continue to succeed. Referencing the instruction sheet, the player should also realize that this order is the PASSCODE listed at the bottom (“¬(me)“, which is the inverse (NOT) of “me”, which is 10010010 10011000 in binary); and that a left button press corresponds to a 0, and a right press corresponds to a 1.

If the correct code is input completely, all of the LEDs will flash green for 3 seconds, and then the curtain is dropped, revealing the letters “u” and “n” resting inside. Together, the letters create the word “unit”. The player can peer inside the window for 5 seconds. Finally, the curtain is drawn up, and the game resets.

Conceptually, this piece speaks to the process I went through of learning to view gender as a performance. Before this queer discovery, I often felt like an “it” in social spaces, objectified under and unable to successfully conform to the label of girl. As I started to explore masculinity, to draw down my curtains by “un”-learning my heteronormative performance of femininity, I was able to find love for the same body I once so atrociously picked apart. The key to this process was overcoming the dissonance of experimenting with a new identity, of being not-me. I had to let go of what I thought should be me, the precursors of my identity given my body, in order to expand my awareness of experiential possibility. I learned through this experimentation that mind transcends body. Un-itting ironically led me to unification. I now experience an identity marked by confidence in multiplicity.